Publishing Platform Best Practices and Benefits

Fall is off to a busy start here in the Aisle Planner office with the launch of our Publishing Platform two weeks ago! The team has been working to continue to bring you the best wedding planning tools out there and, in turn, the most powerful platform for you to run your business on. So, in addition to supporting you with the tools you need to streamline your process, we wanted to support your marketing efforts as well!

One of the pillars of marketing your business in the wedding industry is publishing and we know first hand, how time consuming it can be. Aside from the time you spend gathering all of the images and vendor information, oftentimes, you need to resize and/or rename files. An hour of computer time later, you’re just sitting down to actually complete your submission! We set out to change that by giving you a tool to easily submit your work through and to an outlet that feeds into something that you use every day – and that will help put your talent in front of a captive audience. So, today we wanted to talk about the best practices for and benefits of using our new Publishing Platform so you get the most bang for your buck!

Publishing Platform Best Practices

Tell a Story

We want to hear the story behind your submission! Tell us (and don’t forget – tell the audience) about the design inspiration, your process, any unique details or just how much freakin’ fun you had working with the couple and/or your creative partners! This doesn’t have to be a novel but should be at least a short paragraph. Need some inspiration? You can check out any publication in our Inspiration Gallery but here is an example from our branded photoshoot:

Every once in a while we manage to step away from our desks for a little creative project! And we recently decided that it was time to put our design chops to work and coordinate the first Aisle Planner styled shoot. Inspired by our brand, we grounded the design in black and gold and added some tropical touches as a nod to our Hawaiian roots – palms, white orchids, and hand-cut ahi tuna. We wanted the overall mood to be clean and modern so we balanced the hard lines of the Parisian chairs with lush florals and marbled textures. Cavin Elizabeth joined us at The Romantik Studio and captured all of the details for us so we could put our phones down and style away!

From a group of planners to another, we’re so excited to share this shoot with you and hope you are as jazzed about it as we are!

Spreading the Word

Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and said to yourself, “Hey! I worked on that wedding!” There are lots of people who work on a wedding or a styled shoot that can end up submitting the event for publication – which is great – except when you find out 3 days after the feature went live.

That’s why we built the email field in the credits section of our Publishing Platform. We encourage you to enter contacts into the “email address” field so that everyone who was involved in the event automatically knows the feature has gone live! No more need to spend the time notifying all of your creative partners about a feature – we’ll take care of that for you!

Wondering what else we do with those email contacts? Nothing. Nada. And zip. Any contact information you enter in our Publishing Platform is solely for the purpose of notifying the vendor about the feature and nothing else…ever.

Credit ALL of the Vendors

Speaking of the creative team, don’t forget to credit yourself! Whether you credit yourself as the Event Designer, the Wedding Planner or both, don’t overlook this important step. The whole point of submitting your work is to get your name and work out there, right?

Pro Tip: Consider adding a photo release in any contracts you enter into with clients. You want to make sure that the couple will be excited about seeing their faces on the internet rather than having to ask that the feature be taken down. Here is an example statement (but please have your contract and photo releases reviewed by your legal counsel):

“Upon signing this contract, all images shared by the photographer, videographer and others of the wedding or event, may be used by Company for marketing purposes.”

Publishing Platform Benefits

SEO

One of the biggest benefits to having your work published is for the SEO value. What is SEO? It’s Search Engine Optimization. And it is an important part of your digital marketing strategy.

We could talk about SEO strategies for days but we are going to keep the conversation focused here. One of the things you should be trying to do is to as a part of your SEO strategy is building links that point back to your website. Why? Think of these links as little flags that you are staking into the ground of the internet. The flags establish your presence and, the more flags you have, the easier it is for search engines to find you. So, each time you submit your work and it gets published, you are planting a flag in the ground and making it easier for Google (and potential clients) to find you.

Again, we could talk about SEO in extreme detail so, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below and I’d be happy to answer them!

Brand Building

Getting your work published is also a great way to help build your brand. You work hard on your building business – you’ve invested in a logo, a website, and systems just to name a few – and you want people to know who you are and what you do. So, think of getting your work published as building your online portfolio; one that helps you make lots of first impressions. Each time your work appears on a blog or website, it is a chance to show off your design aesthetic, your expertise as well as to build and support your brand.

Lead Generation

And let’s not forget about lead generation! Perhaps the biggest benefit to having your work published is the possibility that it resonates with a potential client and inspires them to reach out to you. Because, hey, there is a real business benefit to creating beautiful events!

We have some big plans for the Publishing Platform and this is “V1” as we like to call it. So, stay tuned over the coming months for the bigger and more powerful version. And until then, happy submitting!

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About the Author

Tayler Cusick Hollman

Tayler is the Editor in Chief at Aisle Planner. She is obsessed with color and pattern, notoriously cooks everything from scratch, and can sometimes be seen cruising around on a skateboard. Follow Tayler on Instagram @taylrd_designs